The defending Major League Rugby champion Seattle Seawolves will play Pacific Rugby Premiership power SFGG at Treasure Island on Saturday.
This is a huge kickoff game for both teams. SFGG, led by capped Eagle Brendan Daly, is looking to claim a PRP title after just missing out on a place in the final last year due to the tightest of margins in the tiebreakers.
@sfggrugby host @usmlr 2018 champion @SeawolvesRFC at Ray Sheeran Field on @SFTIDA on Jan 5th, 2019 1:30PM. Get tickets here: https://t.co/dyyA9FABOK #GoGate pic.twitter.com/Ardnfo2ojR
— SFGG Rugby (@sfggrugby) November 1, 2018
SFGG is hoping capped 7s Eagle Jack Halalilo is healthy -- he saw limited action in 2018 -- and will benefit from the returns of Akuila Uaisele, Opeti Okusi and Neil Barrett.
New on the scene are some high-profile college players. Mike McCarthy was a standout flyhalf for Saint Mary’s, while Henry Hall is a former high school All-American and played prop and lock at Saint Mary’s. Kevin Sullivan, a Cal grad and one of the top props in the nation, also joins SFGG, while Tim Maupin, back on the USA radar at wing, is now playing with Golden Gate.
For Seattle, there’s no rest for the champions. Amazingly, the Seawolves won the MLR without a full-time head coach, with scrumhalf and Canada National Team captain Phil Mack filling that role. Mack, understandably, was expecting to relinquish that job, and he has, with Anton Moolman, previously the Director of Rugby for the Western Province Rugby Academy in South Africa, taking the job.
New year. Same goal. More to protect. ? #TogetherWeHunt #HappyNewYear
— Seattle Seawolves (@Seawolves_Rugby) January 1, 2019
? @markdavidjanzen / @aedelhard pic.twitter.com/jstwJ93NBe
The Seawolves also have some new faces in the lineup. Center/flyhalf Roland Suniula (first capped in 2009), flyhalf/fullback Ben Cima (first capped in 2017) and South African scrumhalf Juan-Philip Smith have all been signed.
The game itself is also a symbol of a new symbiosis between the PRP and MLR. The PRP is an excellent place for young players to get game time and work their way into a pro contract (SFGG prop Nathan Sylvia did just that). By also playing each other, the two leagues can get a handle on the talent level throughout the country, and the standard required to play as a pro.
Keep connected with FloRugby’s coverage of the PRP all season long.